347
No. 252
HONGKONG.
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE BOTANICAL AND AFFORESTATION DEPARTMENT
FOR 1891.
Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor, on the 7th June, 1892.
No. 17.
BOTANIC GARDENS, HONGKONG, 25th May, 1892.
SIR, I have the honour to submit the Annual Report on this Department for the year 1891.
2. In addition to the average number of minor changes in the staff Mr. A. B. WESTLAND, Head Gardener, who had been absent on leave since March, 1890, was, in August, 1891, while he was in England, transferred to an appointment at the Taj Mahal Gardens in India. Mr. W. J. TUTCHER was appointed from Kew Gardens to succeed Mr. WESTLAND as Assistant in this Department; he arrived in Hongkong and assumed the duties of his office on the 14th December.
3. In October the post of Watchman in the Gardens was abolished, and the post of an Assistant Clerk was created, the pay of the former, with a slight increase, being available for the wages of the latter, an arrangement which has worked well and been of much benefit to the department. The Assistant Clerk, with his education in English, is beginning to acquire a fair knowledge of plant names, which should be of considerable value to the service, as he is available occasionally for out-door services as well as indoor work.
4. The New Building, which includes accommodation for the Herbarium, Library, Offices and Store-rooms and Residence for the Superintendent was commenced in the early part-of the year and is now completed and occupied. The facilities for conducting the business of the department are thereby greatly improved, and the collection of dried plants and the library, which are accommodated in the Herbarium room, will be much better preserved than in the unsuitable building where they were pre- viously housed.
BOTANIC GARDENS.
Nursery.
5. In addition to ordinary routine work the erection of the new building on the site of the nursery occasioned a great deal of extra work, which extended through the whole year, in removing the stock of plants in pots, plant houses, sheds, &c., to a new site which had to be prepared adjacent to the old
one.
New water tanks were constructed and a new water supply system was connected with the tanks which are situated within the plant houses and throughout the nursery. The tanks are so placed that labour of water carrying is reduced as far as possible.
Surface and underground drainage for storm waters has been well provided for.
Besides the plant houses which were removed from the old to the new site, an entirely new glass- roofed house 85 feet long has been constructed for the accommodation of delicate ferns and foliage plants which could not be satisfactorily grown without such a structure to protect them from heavy rains, winds, and cold.
Another glass-roofed house 50 feet long is in course of construction, the wood-work of which is being prepared by the carpenter during time when he can be spared from other work.
All plants which are grown for sale are kept in this nursery; access to the nursery from Albany Road will be very convenient to the public when the old building is completely removed and a new approach made. The work of moving the old building is now in progress and it will be completed in a few weeks. I propose making the approach to the nursery through a fern-house to be constructed with an ornamental front abutting on Albany Road.
Lawns.
6. In October and November many lawns throughout the Colony and at Kowloon were infested with myriads of the larvae of a small moth. The lawns in the Botanic and Government House Gardens suffered very greatly from this visitation, in many places every vestige of the green blades of grass having been completely consumed leaving large unsightly patches of bare soil. Many things were tried, including kerosene oil, sulphate of copper, lime, soapsuds, tobacco-water, corrosive sublimate, and